THE SHIP has at least 16 fake airplanes on its carrier deck. It was being towed by a boat, and another Iranian fast boat was seen nearby. The carrier, one of the Iranian navy’s largest ships, was blown up by Iran in 2015 and then repaired. Iran’s navy is otherwise relatively small and no match for the US Navy. One US naval officer quipped last year that the US could destroy the Iranian navy in an afternoon if it wanted to.At the moment, it appears that the USS Eisenhower, which was off the Persian Gulf earlier this month, is now in the Mediterranean Sea for a drill with the Hellenic Navy. Between July 14 and 20 it made its way from near Oman toward the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The USS Nimitz has been working recently with the Indian Navy. With the Eisenhower and the USS San Jacinto in the Mediterranean, the Nimitz has now moved to take up station with the Fifth Fleet as part of the need to sustain a carrier strike group presence in the Middle East, joining the fleet on July 24.The Nimitz brings with her nine squadrons of the Carrier Air Wing and a destroyer squadron with the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton and Arliegh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Ralph Johnson, all under the command of Rear Adm. Jim Kirk. A native of Pennsylvania, he took up command of Carrier Strike Group 11 in May.Kirk shares a name with the fictional television and movie character Admiral James Tiberius Kirk of Star Trek fame. The real-life Admiral Jim Kirk and his carrier group will now help secure around 2.5 million square miles of water, according to the US Navy. According to a 2013 Guardian profile, Kirk does not take offensive to comparisons with his fictional media counterpart.After being moved to a berth a few days ago, the mock aircraft carrier was towed out of the port yesterday morning. Today, @maxar captured it in its new location around 50 km southeast (possible fast attack boat approaching). Interesting to see what happens in next days pic.twitter.com/dcpGqkaNzj
— Christoph Koettl (@ckoettl) July 27, 2020